Strengthening health facilities for maternal and newborn care: experiences from rural eastern Uganda.

Background: In Uganda maternal and neonatal mortality remains high due to a number of factors, including poor quality of care at health facilities.

Objective: This paper describes the experience of building capacity for maternal and newborn care at a district hospital and lower-level health facilities in eastern Uganda within the existing system parameters and a robust community outreach programme.

Design: This health system strengthening study, part of the Uganda Newborn Study (UNEST), aimed to increase frontline health worker capacity through district-led training, support supervision, and mentoring at one district hospital and 19 lower-level facilities.

Recurrence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: an individual patient data metaanalysis.

Objective: We performed an individual participant data (IPD) metaanalysis to calculate the recurrence risk of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) and recurrence of individual hypertensive syndromes.

Study Design: We performed an electronic literature search for cohort studies that reported on women experiencing HDP and who had a subsequent pregnancy. The principal investigators were contacted and informed of our study; we requested their original study data.

Low avidity of human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 antibodies is associated with increased risk of low-risk but not high-risk HPV type prevalence.

Background: Low avidity of antibodies against viral, bacterial and parasitic agents has been used for differential diagnosis of acute versus recent/past infections. The low-avidity antibodies may however, persist for a longer period in some individuals.

Findings: We studied the association of human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 antibody avidity with seroprevalence to HPV types 6/11/18/31/33/45.

Hurdles and opportunities for newborn care in rural Uganda.

Introduction: A set of evidence-based delivery and neonatal practices have the potential to reduce neonatal mortality substantially. However, resistance to the acceptance and adoption of these practices may still be a problem and challenge in the rural community in Uganda.

Objectives: To explore the acceptability and feasibility of the newborn care practices at household and family level in the rural communities in different regions of Uganda with regards to birth asphyxia, thermo-protection and cord care.

Perceptions among post-delivery mothers of skin-to-skin contact and newborn baby care in a periurban hospital in Uganda.

Objective: to explore the perceptions among post-delivery mothers of skin-to-skin contact and newborn baby care.

Design: a qualitative design using focus-group discussions. Five focus groups were conducted with post-delivery mothers who had had normal deliveries.

A randomized controlled safety and acceptability trial of dextrin sulphate vaginal microbicide gel in sexually active women in Uganda.

Objective: To assess the safety of dextrin sulphate (DS) gel compared to placebo gel in terms of local and systemic adverse events, and to determine the acceptability of dextrin sulphate gel.

Design: A 4-week randomized trial of DS intra-vaginal gel, partially blinded, with placebo and observation control arms. Participants were randomized to use DS gel twice daily, placebo gel twice daily, DS gel pre-sex, or into an observation only arm.